The Bulldog Relays track meet took place March 26 at 5:30 p.m. at Batavia High School, bringing together multiple teams to compete in relay events and individual races.
“My typical plans are to get out and then stay with the front pack, I would say,” Hampshire High School sophomore Reese Long said. “And then after that, it’s just to stick with them and then race them by lap, not by the actual race.”
Although Long did not compete in this particular meet, she usually aims to position herself with the front pack early to challenge herself each lap.
“And then for my mile time is to probably get into like the fives, and then for my four by fours to make it down to state,” Long said.
Even as an underclassmen, Long has intense goals for herself and her relay teams. Her motivation sets the standard and keeps her disciplined, and she still has two more years to shoot higher than the standard.
On the flip side, Geneva High School senior Harrison Tincher stays consistent in each of his races.
“My race plan was to just stay strong the whole race and keep my knees up so I could finish strong,” Tincher said. “And I did stick to that. I finished strong and handed off to my brother.”
Tincher is in his last year on the Geneva Track and Field team. He is experienced and skilled.
“Yeah, you really want to get out strong in the first curve, you got to go all out, and then you got to maintain your speed,” Tincher said. “And then on the last curve, get around hard to the person you’re handing [the baton] off to.”
Batavia High School junior Will Polaski has some different techniques when racing, everyone has superstitions, but Polaski’s new tactic definitely varies from others.
“My race plan was to take a ton of caffeine pills, and I took them, and I felt really good,” Polaski said. “And that was my race plan, kind of.”
Polaski said he relied on caffeine pills as part of his race preparation and felt good during the event. According to Polaski, taking caffeine pills before the race was a key part of his plan and helped him feel strong.
“I learned caffeine is really good for you, and you just need a good mindset,” Polaski said.
While at home base, West Chicago Community High School senior Omar Cantu expresses that even though he has not been feeling the greatest, his race still went pretty smoothly.
“Just to kind of finish,” Cantu said. “Because I haven’t been feeling good this whole week, but yeah, it went okay.”
Besides not feeling great at the start, his finish stayed strong.
“Really, just to finish strong, you know,” Cantu said. “Get the baton off to my teammate in a decent spot that way they could finish the race.”
